prototyping the user experience

February 19, 2009

How to build a great core team?

This is the single most important question for a start-up. The
makeup of your partnership or core team will be the largest
contributing factor to whether you succeed or not. The right partners
and the right execution team are two different problems. In this
article I want to focus my thoughts mostly on the question of partners
or core team members.

You may be thinking about inviting someone
in because they bring with them financial resources. What you need to
consider is that money alone is worth a lot less than you think. If a
potential partner is willing to contribute money ask yourself this-
once this partner is done bankrolling you what does he add to the team?
Sooner or later their appetite will run out, and it will probably be at
the worst of times. If you are going to take money from someone make
sure that they have experience with start-ups, connect with their
active business network, be certain they are truly inclined to
contribute to the endeavor in other ways beyond their bank account. As
a start-up you don't want anyone idling. Don't take money for money's
sake and don't believe that there are 'silent' partners.

Another
reason to bring on someone early- is to complement your skill set. One
rule of thumb is to choose someone that is better than you at doing
what they do. If you want to win choose winners. You need to really
look hard at their past and look for real success. It's more valuable
if they can point out how specific failures led to success. Success
alone is luck. Success from failing is learning. If they can't show or
don't talk about how they learned from failure you are setting yourself
up. Look at their life in general not just business related concerns.

At
the beginning of a start-up what skills are critical and need
complementing? Let's say every product needs to be supported by a three
legged stool. The three legs are viability, desirability, and
feasibility. Now, which two of the three are the most important? As a
designer I'm inclined to hold onto the idea that desirability is
essential. The reality is that products succeed when you are relieving
a real pain in the market. Focus on both making something that is
desperately needed and the revenue stream to support that continued
making. Once you have those two legs you can then design your product
and service to be desirable. It's not as if design isn't important on
the front-end- after all you have to first 'design' your product and
'design' your business model. What I'm saying is don't worry about
making it beautiful or perfect just make it work. So what makes a good
initial team? One person skilled at making and another one skilled at
selling, those are the two essential skills that need to be
complemented in a start-up.

Risk comes for the Greek word for root and was used as a metaphor for difficulty to be avoided at sea. Risk
can be a beautiful thing. Does your team agree with you? Risk is what
drives change in this world but few are even comfortable with the
thought of it. Understanding the level of risk your core team is
willing to take is essential. It's very easy to be excited about a new
venture in the beginning. It's very easy to have thoughts of positive
outcomes. The reality is that people loose interest when things don't
go well. People start fearing the worst when things are bad. It takes a
delusional tenacity to change anything.

I recently watched the Soderbergh
film Che. I was struck by two things about Che's persona. The first and
most relevant to the topic is- his continuous culling of his men. It
seems as though he understood that at every turn it was necessary to
trim the fat. He would constantly provide an opportunity for people to
walk away. He would also present the stark consequences and allow
people to reinforce their commitment or walk. This is a necessary
process for any start-up.

The other thing that struck me about Che was- during the campaign for
Cuba he was patient but new when to cut his losses and his decisions
were quick and sharp. He was focused on the goal. When it came to
Bolivia he was incapable of doing the same. He had to have known that
things were not going well and yet he continued to barrel ahead. I
think every entrepreneur is likely to face the same dilemma. It is a
dilemma that cuts deep into our humanity. Why was it that Che could not
make the right decisions in Bolivia? I think it was because his
personal ties weighed him down.

If you're going to start a business you are going to involve people in
a very intimate way whether you like it or not. When the high
likelihood of money being lost is present be prepared for a lot of
personal disappointment. If money has seemingly been lost you may feel
an enormous sense of responsibility towards all those that have
contributed directly or indirectly. You may go out of your way and do
ridiculous things to keep things afloat. Despite your best efforts
people will blame you and walk. Do you still think risk is a beautiful
thing? Making money and being caring towards others can often seem like
two different things. There is no right answer you can not predict nor
can you prevent your success or failure. You have to prepare yourself
for either temporary outcome and be willing to keep at it. Above all
value people and people of value will come through. If you are lucky
they will be with you till the end.

Comments

Hey Eduardo !
I agree with most of your great article, just one comment : you don't always have the chance to "choose" whom your money comes from, most of the time, I am afraid that you just take money from whoever is willing to invest in you, event if they only bring money... That is my experience... And when the money is in, you and your team are the only one invested in growing the business!
All the Best !